Summary by Sierra May

"The Homework Machine", written by Dan Gutman , is a story about a 5th grader who invented a homework machine because he wanted something to do his school work for him. Brenton Damagatchi, the creator of the machine, wanted to prove to specific classmates, Judy Douglas, Kelsey Donnely, and Sam Dawkins, that he truly made such a machine. One day after school, Brenton invited his friends, nicknamed the D squad, over to see if the machine was real. Brenton then started out with a simple question and slid the paper into the scanner. He sat at the keyboard and typed some stuff into the computer. Seconds after, the printer starting making noise, then a paper popped out of the printer. The paper said: 2+2=4. The D squad wasn't impressed at first, so Brenton slid his science homework in from that night to prove that it could do more than simple questions. Once the D squad saw the correct answers, they were impressed. Not only did the machine provide the correct answers, it printed out in Brenton's handwriting. From that day on, the D squad would meet at Brenton's house and have the machine do their homework. As the school year came to an end, people started to become suspicious of the D squad. No one could believe that Judy("stuck up"), Kelsey("a loser"), Snik("cool"), and Brenton("genius") were friends all turning in perfect homework. Rumors soon started claiming the D squad were cheaters using a homework machine to complete their assignments for them. The D squad had made a pact to keep "Belch", the homework machine, a secret, but it seemed that one of them leaked the information. After a break in at Brenton's house, a pop test in class that only Brenton got a 100 on, and following the death of Snik's dad, the D squad called an emergency meeting. They soon discovered that Brenton was the one who had leaked the information about Belch. All four kids decided they needed to get rid of the homework machine, and they would do this by throwing it into the Grand Canyon. Several hikers found the remains of the computer and contacted the local police. The news eventually made its way back to the school and the D squad was brought in and questioned by the police. The truth came out and the children admitted to having a homework machine. As punishment, the D squad had to go down into the Grand Canyon to collect the pieces of Belch. Although it was summer vacation and there was no more homework or homework machine, the D squad continued their new found friendship.